Tigers?

Tiger Tiger

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I have a disagreement with another fellow fish keeper on Siamese Tiger Fish.
I wanted your views or shall i say your knowledge.


To my knowledge there are two breeds of Tigers. One are definately Brackish only but another is Freshwater.
I could give you their Latin Names but want to hear your views first.

Who is correct, Brackish only or Freshwater or Brackish? :hey:

Kind regards
 
There's no right or wrong answer to this. One species inhabits brackish water more often than freshwater, Datnioides campbelli. Another species is more typical of freshwater than brackish water though it is certainly found in both, Datnioides polota (= quadrifasciatus). Yet others appear to be confined to freshwater and are not commonly found in brackish water, if ever, i.e., Datnioides undecimradiatus, Datnioides microlepis, and Datnioides pulcher.

Even the freshwater species are fairly tolerant of brackish water, so you could probably keep them in a low-end brackish tank (SG 1.005 or less) without any real problems. As a family these fish are very closely related to the Lobotidae and are definitely classed as secondary freshwater fish. Because of the potential difficulties in identifying juveniles it may even be sensible to keep them in brackish water until they are convincingly identified. (It should be added that while many fishkeepers think they can identify the species, ichthylogists working on the group are much less complacent; see Roberts and Kottelat 1994 and Kottelat, 1998. There's an excellent summary in the Aqualog brackish water fishes book.)

The two brackish water species can be kept in either low or moderately brackish water, though I'd recommend around 1.003-1.006 as being adequate and providing flexibility for adding plants and other fishes. I'm not aware of anyone keeping Datnioides campbelli at a marine salinity, though it may be possible given their ecological range.

Cheers, Neale
 
Thats a great a completely correct reply. I only know this as i have read it so i am not assuming i know as much as yourself or others.

Now here is a question for you.

Are any of the species above capable of living in a complete tropical set up and live with say silver sharks of the same size?

Thanks
 
I'm not an expert on these fish, but my understanding is that they are all somewhat territorial, with D. campbelli being considered the most aggressive and the least tolerant of overcrowding. They can be combined with fish of similar size, though this may depend on the size of the aquarium, number of hiding places, and so on. The brackish water species at least can be housed with monos, scats, large sleeper gobies, shark catfish, etc.

My guess is any of the three true freshwater species would be an option for silver sharks (by which I assume you mean Balantiocheilus melanopterus) in a tank of appropriately large size. But I'd suggest asking this on the Oddballs forum rather than here.

Cheers, Neale
 

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